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Wednesday, December 23, 2015

COMBATING VIOLENT EXTREMISM (3)

Sheikh Youssef Mechria, Secretary of the Algerian League of Imams continued his speech:

‘The scholars are the heirs of the prophets, as pointed out by the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, where he said, ‘The ulamaa are the heirs of the prophets who have bequeathed neither dirham nor dinar, but what they bequeathed was knowledge.’

‘The first to engage the Khawaarij was Ibn Abbas…. So, today, this is your role and responsibility as ulamaa and imams, to preserve sound understanding of the religion.

Ibn Abbas went to dialogue with the Khawaarij. He said to them, in a modern context, ‘What is the grudge you have against the government?’

‘They mentioned three things that made them to rebel against the state. That :1) Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, made men to adjudicate their dispute with him when Allah said, ‘The judgement for none but Allah.’ ( al-An’aam, 6:57 and Yusuf, 12:40, 67) ‘Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are disbelievers…such are wrong-doers….such are evil-livers.’ (al-Maa’idah, 5:44,45,47). 2) When they fought against the army that included Aisha, Mother of the Believers, Ali, peace be upon him, did not take captives or spoils. If the opponents were disbelievers, then their captives are permissible, but if on the other hand they were believers, then why fight them in the first place? 3) He removed the title of Ameerul Mu’mineen (Commander of the Faithful) from the name; therefore, if he seizes to be Ameerul Mu’mineen, then he is Ameerul Kaafireen (Commander of the Infidels).

‘Ibn Abbas asked them if they had other issues, but they said what they presented to him was sufficient for them. He then said, ‘Would you rescind your stance if I relate to you evidence from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet what refutes your position?’

‘When they answered in the affirmative, he said, ‘concerning your statement that Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, made men to be arbiters in a matter which, to your understanding, only Allah will judge, I wish to present to you instances in the Qur’an where Allah orders men to judge in issues that are not as important as those in which Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, called for men’s adjudication. Like the case of hunting by a person in a state of ihraam which the Qur’an prohibits; but in the event where such a person kills the game intentionally, ‘then the penalty is an offering equivalent to the one he killed, as judged by two men among you.’ (al-Maa’idah, 5:95) Allah could have been the judge in this matter of hunting, but He gave it the authority to men, which leads me to ask you this: is a judgement by men in matters of reconciliation in order to avoid bloodshed among Muslims more important or that regarding the hunting of animals?

‘They said men’s judgement in matters of reconciliation are more important.

‘Ibn Abbas cited another example from the Qur’an. In marital discord, two arbitrators are to be appointed, one from the man’s side, and one from the woman’s side. (an-Nisaa, 4:35) He then asked, ‘Is a judgement by men in matter of reconciling hearts and avoiding bloodshed more important or that of pertaining marital discord of a spouse?

‘The said the former was more important than the latter.

‘On the issue of fighting with taking spoils and captives, Ibn Abbas asked if they could take their mother, Aisha as a captive, and if they could have amatory dealings with her as they would with women captives. He made them see the kufr, (faithlessness) involved if they were to answer in the affirmative to the question of treating Aisha like any other female captive, and in denying that she is the mother of believers. (al-Ahzaab, 33:6) They also accepted his verdict on this.

‘Ibn Abbas went further to debunk the idea that since Ali, peace be upon him, removed from his name the title of Ameerul Mu’minee, he was then Ameerul Kaafireen. He brought as another example the Hudaibiyyah agreement ratified between the Makkan Mushriks and the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him. The Prophet was dictating to Ali, peace be upon him, the contents of the document: ‘This is what Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah undertakes with the ….’ But the Mushriks interjected, ‘If we had accepted you as the Messenger of Allah we would not have taken up arms against you.’

‘With is object the Prophet (SAW) said, ‘Oh Allah, Thou indeed know that I am Your Messenger….’ He then ordered Ali, peace be upon him, to erase Messenger of Allah, and replace with Muhammad Ibn Abdullah….’

‘Ibn Abbas now said the Khawaarij, ‘By Allah, Ali, peace be upon him, is not better than the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, who himself erased ‘Messenger of Allah’ from his name. That did not erase his ‘messengerhood’ or repudiate the message he brought.

‘The Khawarij accepted all that Ibn Abbas presented in this dialogue which made more 2000 of them to lay down their armour of rebellion and rejoin the fold of Muslims.'

The contents of this blog are from my weekly column with LEADERSHIP Friday Newspapers. Therefore, the date of publication here may vary from that on which the original piece appeared on the Leadership column.